DIA director Graham Beal speaks to the news media the day after local voters approved a millage for the museum. / SUSAN TUSA/Detroit Free Press

Detroit Free Press Columnist

An extraordinary thing happened on Aug. 7. A majority of voters in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties voted to tax themselves to keep the financially beleaguered Detroit Institute of Arts from falling into a death spiral. That's right: People voted for higher taxes to pay for art -- they decided it was worth the money.

It was a watershed moment for the museum, perhaps for all of culture in Detroit. The yearly property tax -- $20 on a home worth $200,000 -- promises to funnel about $23 million annually into DIA operations for the next 10 years, and it represents the DIA's first stable source of public funding in a generation.

The museum's successful tax initiative put an exclamation point on a post-recession turnaround that left Detroit's cultural sector far stronger at the end of 2012 than at the beginning. The year started with long-term real estate debt threatening to throw the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Michigan Opera Theatre into bankruptcy. The shuttered Detroit Science Center faced liquidation in July.

But the DSO reached a deal with its banks in May to retire its $54-million debt. Earlier this month the orchestra launched a 10-year plan to grow earned revenues by 30% and raise a likely minimum of $225 million for operations and endowment. Meanwhile, MOT raised $7.2 million in a six-month sprint to get its debt under control. And a reincorporated Michigan Science Center reopened last week after a financial lifeline was thrown by businessman and Republican powerbroker Ron Weiser.

Lots of work remains. In addition to the DSO's ambitious goals, the DIA has to grow its endowment by roughly $300 million over the next decade to replace the tax dollars when the millage expires. MOT's operating margins remain razor thin. But to paraphrase the DSO's strategic plan: There can be no artistic excellence without financial viability and no viability without excellence.

The challenge for all Detroit cultural institutions in 2013 and beyond is to live up to that motto.